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Renewable Energy Standards (aka Renewable Portfolio Standards) State and national policies requiring electric utilities to increase the amount of renewable energy they use to serve their customer loads can open new opportunities for residential wind development. A 2002 report from the Lawrence Berkel ey National Laboratory concluded that Renewable Energy Standards (RES) create critical market opportunities for renewable energy sources, without which government financial incentives promoting renewables have limited effect. Under Renewable Energy Standards, utilities must derive a certain percentage of their generation from renewable resources like wind, creating guaranteed demand for renewable power. Commercial projects will be the first to supply that need, but as utilities gain more experience with renewable energy systems its expected that they will more willingly accommodate all kinds of clean energy projects. Policymakers may also direct utilities to focus on smaller producers. The Iowa legislature, for example, considered an RES in 2003 that would have specifically required utilities to derive a certain percentage of their renewable generation from locally owned, small-scale projects. Renewable Energy Standards have passed in 13 states: California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachussetts, and Maine (A federal standard of 10% is included in the pending 2003 energy bill). These states are proving t hat the standards work. Texas in particular has seen an explosive growth in wind power; wind turbines were largely responsible for the state producing more than twice as much renewable power as its standard called for by 2002. In Minnesota, the standard helped open markets to farmers who cooperatively invested in small-scale commercial wind farms. Renewable Energy Standards are good public policy. They protect consumers from rate increases, enhance the domestic e